Rash's Surname Index
Notes for William Sansom VAUX
William Sansom Vaux was born in Philadelphia on May 19, 1811, and died there May 5, 1882. When a boy he acquired a strong taste for mineralogy, and he pursued the study of that science and later that of archaeology with enthusiasm throughout his life. He may have been influenced in this by his uncle, Joseph Sansom (1767-1820), who assembled one of the first mineral collections in America (later given to Haverford College). Vaux was elected to the Philadelphia Academy of Sciences in March 1834, and during the subsequent years served the Society intellectually and generously. He was an auditor from 1856 and one of the Curators from 1838 as well as treasurer from 1840. Except for the year 1875, he was also a vice-president continuously from 1860. During his lifetime he gave generously to the Academy's library and museum, especially in the branches of mineralogy and ethnology.
Vaux began collecting minerals about 1820, and through purchases built the finest collection of minerals ever assembled up to that time in the United States. He also influenced his nephew, George Vaux, Jr. (1863-1927), to collect minerals. He was one of eight founders of the Numismatic and antiquarian society, its senior vice-president, and from 1871 till his death treasurer of the American association for the advancement of science, of which society he had been a member since its foundation. On the death of William S. Vaux, he left his mineral collection, except 25 specimens choosen by the family, to the Philadelphia Academy of Sciences, along with a $10,000 endowment to maintain and expand the collection. Today, it remains there and is known by its principal benefactors name. By 1883, the collection had been transferred to the Academy's museum and was arranged in seven upright cases and 39 horizontal cases. Arrangement of the species was according to the system of Dana (5th edition), and embraced 6,391 specimens representing 466 species or groups, all mounted in trays and labeled. The endowment Vaux left was also used for good purchases that amounted to 60 specimens in 1884, 104 in 1885, 114 in 1886 and 156 in 1887. Included in the purchases were a 4 ft., 100 lb. stalagmite of aragonite from the Organ Mountains, New Mexico, a fine group of rutile from Graves Mountain, Georgia, a specimen of wulfenite from the Red Cloud mine, Arizona, described as a stone matrix of 6 x 8 inches coated over with beautiful red translucent crystals, and a large group of Japanese stibnite weighing 125 lb. and containing 70 to 80 well terminated crystals. The 25 specimens withheld by the family were sold to museums in the early 1970's.
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